Empowering Youth Expressions
Youth and young adults who have experienced foster care overwhelmingly report that they do not feel heard by the adults in their lives.
In response to their desire to be seen and heard, our Empowering Youth Expressions program was formed with heavy input from a passionate group of young people with lived experience. .
Through a variety of art modalities and community building events, participants are empowered to express themselves without sensorship or restriction. They are able to speak their authentic truth, allowing them to feel seen, heard, and validated.
Elevating Connections’ Empowering Youth Expressions program (EYE) includes art and writing workshops, ‘Not Just Another Arts Festival’, a poetry jam, advocacy opportunities, and monthly Community Dinners.
All of our EYE programming is youth driven and youth informed. No one ages out of our EYE program.
Arts and Writing Workshops
EC offers workshops in a variety of creative modalities such as, painting, drawing, music, DJing, writing, comedy, improv, and more!
Our workshops are provided virtually and in-person and give youth and young adults opportunities to engage with peers with similar lived experience. The workshops are facilitated by experienced artists and poets allowing the youth to learn new skills or enhance their current skills.
Participants are invited to share their work at our annual Poetry Jam and ‘Not Just Another Arts Festival’. EYE free workshops are 3 hours with lunch included. For ages 15+ (no one ages out of our program!)
Two-Day Art Retreat at Camp Shady Brook
Two-Day Art Retreat
at Camp Shady Brook
We offer a two-day retreat at Camp Shady Brook for youth to engage in art workshops including painting, music, comedy, writing, and more. We craft the activities to help youth build trust while cultivating relationships with each other and the volunteering adults who pour themselves out for the kids. For many of the kids, it’s an experience unlike they’ve ever had before.
Youth will spend the retreat enjoying a couple of days in the mountains away from the hustle and bustle of city life so they can focus on exploring their artistic sides. They will brush shoulders with adult professionals who show kids that they can use their talents and interests to express themselves and even make a living. Everyone has a way to express themselves, and kids will learn during this retreat how to open up and use their talents to reach their goals.
Poetry Jam
We started our Poetry Jam in 2018 as a way to give young people the opportunity to speak their truth through the arts. Since then, this event has grown and become one of our most popular programs. The Poetry Jam takes place each May in front of a live audience. It is open to all ages. All of the youth we serve have experienced trauma. The Poetry Jam is an opportunity for them to share any part of their story that they choose. No matter how difficult that story is, almost all of the performers end on a note of hope and determination of a brighter future.
Youth Assistance Program
The Youth Assistance Program from Elevating Connections provides technology support to older youth living on their own in the foster care system who need it. Many of the youth lack access to the internet, which is crucial for education and socialization. But even more important than that, a lack of internet access for some older youths living on their own means they are unable to connect with their support systems.
Elevating Connections seeks to even the playing field by providing internet access along with helping with phone bills to restore connection, tablets, and more to older youths in need. This ensures they have a line of communication to their support and gives them necessary resources to flourish in their situation.
We also provide emergency food funding to help youth in the foster care system get through difficult times. And besides offering short-term help, we make sure the youth find long-term solutions to meet their needs.
Elevating Connections understands the importance of being creative. But it can be hard to be creative if a youth lacks access to basic needs like food and communicative technology. Our Youth Assistance Program meets those needs so older youth living on their own or youth who were in the foster care system and have since turned 18 can spend more of their energy on expressing themselves through their creativity.
Be a Part of Reconnecting and Meeting the Needs of Youth in the Foster Care System
At Elevating Connections, we believe relationships and self-expression are the keys to personal and social success for youth in and out of the foster care system. But we need your help to ensure the youth have their needs met so they can focus on their art and friendships while finding their confident voice to speak into the world.
Please donate to our cause today or give of your time by volunteering at one of our events. With your help, our Youth Connections line of programming can continue positively impacting the youth in our community. Contact us today to learn more.
You Can Help Reconnect Siblings Separated by the Foster Care System
Sibling relationships should be given the same priority as the parent-child relationship, and that’s why we exist. Contact us today if you’d like to learn more about our Sibling Connections programming. You can also sign up to be a volunteer if you would like to get personally involved.
Do you know foster children who have been separated from their siblings? They could be the perfect candidates for our Sibling Connections programs. Complete the referral process to take the next step toward positively impacting the youth in your life and helping them forge lasting relationships with their siblings!
Feedback About the Empowering Youth Expressions Program
“I would refer others to Elevating Connections because we don’t age out and we all need the support. EC gave me a sense of community, friends, and a place to speak my truth. My favorite thing about Elevating Connections is that I can say anything I feel and feel safe enough to express when I need something.”
Not Just Another Arts Festival
We introduced ‘Not Just Another Arts Festival’ in 2024 to increase the opportunities for young people with lived experience to speak their truth in a variety of art modalities. The arts festival allows youth to speak to a larger audience that may hold misconceptions about youth who have experienced foster care.
Elevating Connections wants our community to know what we know to be true: youth and young adults who have experienced foster care are smart, creative, talented, funny, and deserve to be heard. Our participant artists can choose to display and/or sell their work. This unique festival also welcomes professional artists to both mentor and share their work as well.
This full-day festival is filled with live performances, art demonstrations, panel discussions, and community art projects. It is a celebration of art, youth voice, community, and connection!
Community Dinners
In late 2022, our young adult participants were expressing feelings of isolation and lonliness, that were due to the pandemic and loss of community upon exiting foster care. In response, we created monthly community dinners as opportunities to come together, share a meal, and be in community with one another. Examples of community dinners include: celebrating birthdays, meeting at restaurants, park days, and special requested outings such as going to Meow Wolf together.
Advocacy
At Elevating Connections, we advocate for youth in foster care, but more importantly, we stand beside them and encourage and coach them to advocate for themselves and their peers. The voices of our young people with lived experience should be the most important voice at the table in matters of policy, law, or anything else that impacts youth in the child welfare system. EC participants have helped shape new laws and provided their personal testimony in both houses of Congress in Colorado.
How to Enroll in the Empowering Youth Expressions Program
Youth/Young Adults 18 and over can enroll themselves in the EYE program or be referred by a supportive adult.
Youth under 18 must be referred by a guardian, caseworker/GAL/CASA. To enroll in the Empowering Youth Expressions program, complete the Empowering Youth Expressions Application at the link below.
Once the application has been submitted, you will be contacted within 3-5 business days by one of our staff to set up a follow up phone call to determine how we can best support the youth/adult applicant and verify eligibility.
EYE program eligibility requirements:
1. Past or current experience in foster care or other out of home placements.
2. EYE program age minimum is 15 years of age with no age maximum.
Once a youth/adult applicant is determined eligible and accepted into our Empowering Youth Expressions program, directions will be given on how to sign up for our events.
Empowering Youth Expressions programs have sponsorship packages available from $200 to $50,000. For more information, contact Stacey Sanders: staceys@elevatingconnections.org